


Always the Bridesmaid

by Dianalynn1138



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Death of a Parent, F/M, Fluff, Gingerflower, Gingerrose - Freeform, Secret Crush, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23399827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dianalynn1138/pseuds/Dianalynn1138
Summary: Maid of Honor Rose and Best Man Hux are almost to the finish line with their best friend's, Rey and Ben, wedding.  But Hux has a secret and has finally found the courage to tell Rose how he really feels.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 26
Kudos: 85





	Always the Bridesmaid

“Are you sure you don’t want us to help you clean up?” Rey asked for what had to be the tenth time as Rose pushed her and Ben out the door of the restaurant. Except for one of the groom’s uncles hitting on one of the bridesmaids, at least Ben had called him “Uncle Lando”, Rose wasn’t fully sure of the connection. But other than that, the night had truly gone off without a hitch; the rehearsal dinner was over and the only thing now to deal with was the wedding the next day.

“Rey, soon to be Solo, if you don’t get out of this place in the next few seconds, I’m going to tell the mascot story in my speech tomorrow.” Truth be told, Rose couldn’t actually remember the story in its entirety, but the fears of any of it being told in such a public setting was enough to get Rey, Roses best friend and blushing bride, to head towards the door. 

“What’s the mascot story?” Ben, the groom the Rey’s blushing bride asked as he helped her with her jacket before exiting into the chilly Malibu night air.

“Taking that to my grave, Solo.” Rey said as the door closed behind them, a sense of humor in her mater-of-fact statement. Rose watched as the two walked to Ben’s car, his arm wrapping protectively around Rey’s shoulders as they moved through the parking lot. 

Rose returned to the back room where the rehearsal dinner had been held and looked at the aftermath of the party. The place was a mess, and yes, Rose knew they had staff to clear the dishes away and help move the tables back, she felt badly that they had so much to put back into place, it was the least she could do. 

“They finally leave?” A soft male voice tinged with an Irish accent came from the shadows of the hallways connecting the private banquet room where the party had been held, and the restrooms on the opposite side of the room. For a dive bar, Neptune’s Net was really rather spacious, the back area was almost more space than their large party needed. With wood paneled walls vistooned in tacky nautical knickknacks, a surfboard mounted to the wall draped in fishing nets, rescue rings with USS Minnow printed on the side, paintings of marinas, beaches and tropical islands only found at flea markets and hipster’s lofts were proudly displayed above an upright piano; because why wouldn’t there be a piano in this room?

Rose watched as the tall, lanky, laith best man, Armitage Hux, or Hux as he wished to be called, grabbed the back of one of the chairs and sat down in it. Dressed in a white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the collar and a blue tweed vest and dark wash denim jeans paired, oddly enough, with a pair of converses. His shaggy ginger hair, once combed into place at the beginning of the night, had lost its hold and was now tucked behind his ears exposing his sharp cheekbones and bearded jawline, and if Rose was being honest with herself, he wasn’t bad to look at. 

When Rose had first met Hux after moving to LA from Boston last year her first impressions of him left something to be desired, he was brash, slightly condescending, a know it all who had all the answers to every question that could be asked. He didn’t so much “man-splain” as he just had an opinion on everything; Rose especially hated when he would comment on her job as an engineer. As it turned out, she and Hux had a great deal in common outside of their shared friends, including a place of work. Rose remembered with a small pang of embarrassment an argument at dinner about the benefits of assigned parking spaces, he was for, she against. Only to find out not only did they work at the same school, but in a strange turn of events, Rose had been parking in the space Hux had claimed as his months before she had been hired. Cal Tech being a large campus with thousands of employees and researchers as well as the JPL department, who would have thought their world would be so small?

However, a year and a half later Rose had gotten to know him, even carpooling the last few weeks to and from work while her car was in the shop. Yes, he was still an asshole, but maybe Hux was the kind of asshole a person could be friends with.

 _Maybe even more than friends with._ Rose pushed that thought way to the back of her mind.

“Rose, please, tonight has been a total win for us, you can relax and let the people whose job it is to clean this place up.” Hux took the plates she had been stacking out of her hands placing them back on the table and handed her a glass and tried to get her attention away from the half-eaten cake. Rose looked up and let out an annoyed sigh but still took the flute. She held her glass up and waited for him to join.

“To Ben and Rey.” She said as their glasses clinked against each other.

“And to never having to do wedding planning bullshit ever again!” Hux added just as she was about to take a sip. 

Rose watched as Hux took a long drink from his own glass and let his head fall back as he took a deep breath. She watched as his Adams apple bobbed up and down and thought about what he had just said. Rose had always wanted to be married, have a family, be with that one person for the rest of her life, but she had to agree with Hux, planning this wedding, a wedding she was only the Maid of Honor in was more than enough to make her want to elope. This night had been fun, but the time and energy it took to plan had Rose almost pulling her hair out. 

Rose moved to the chair next to Hux and began eating some of the cake from the table. “So, you never want to get married, is that what you’re saying?” Did she really just lick icing off her finger while she looked at him? Where did that come from?

Hux sat up straighter and reached across the table to the cake, taking some of the icing onto his own fingers and bringing it to his own mouth. “No, I have nothing against marriage, I just don’t want the wedding. I would be more than happy to go to the courthouse with a couple of friends then have a nice dinner.” He took more of the icing and scooted closer towards her. “I would do it if that’s what she wanted, but I’d like to think that the woman I chose to spend the rest of my life with would feel the same.” He was looking deep into her eyes just then; Rose could see herself in the sage green depths as he spoke. Hux stood up and moved towards the upright piano, opening up the covers and gently brushing his hands on the keys.

Rose was totally thrown off balance at the abrupt change and it took a moment to readjust. Was he flirting with her? Rose wasn’t blind when it came to the opposite sex; she was a small Asian woman with a bright smile and a very nice endowment in the boobs department, but Hux acting like he was interested in her was a new experience all together. Regaining her balance, Rose stood up and joined him at the piano where he had begun to play a soft melody. 

“I didn’t know you played?” Rose watched as he scooted over to allow her room next to him. She sat down and watched as his fingers deftly moved over the black and white keys in a beautiful progression she had never herd before. His body moved while he played making his arm brush up against the side of her breasts, sending unnerving bolts of electricity through her body.

“My mother was a music teacher, I would sit for hours with her, she would put my hands on hers learning the keys, chord progression…” Hux spoke in a bittersweet fashion, a tone Rose had never heard before coming from him. He had always been so strong and sure and focused on the here and now. “I had just been able to reach the pedals when she died.” Rose immediately put her hand on his arm feeling the movement of muscles under his shirt as he continued to play.

“Hux I’m so sorry to hear that.” Hux stopped at her words and turned to face her. He casually looked her up and down, then moved a piece of hair that had fallen in her face, tucking it behind her ear then returned to his playing.

“She was a strong woman but turns out cancer is stronger.” Rose gave him a bittersweet smile in return for his remark as she watched his hands move over the keys once more. She had never noticed his hands before, long fingers attached to a wide palm… Rose shuttered at the mental image that suddenly entered her mind, an image of what he could possible do with those fingers other than play piano. 

“You look beautiful tonight, by the way. I mean you always look beautiful, but tonight you really outdid yourself.” Rose thought she was having a stoke. Did he just say what she thought he did?

“Armitage Hux, are you… are you flirting with me?” Hux stopped playing and face her fully, turning his body and moving one leg over the other side, straddling the bench fully.

“Rose Tico, I have been trying to flirt with you from the day that we met.” The look on his face was both earnest and mischievous Rose didn’t know what to think let alone say. 

“The first day we met, when you spoke about mechanical engineering in a way that made it sound like a less like the mind numbing Bob the Builder episode it actually is and more like how Dr. Frankenstein speaks of creating his monster, that the things you design and build are like your unnatural children, I about lost my fucking mind.”

Rose continued to sit there starring at him in complete shock. “But Hux, you argue with me all the damn time. How is that flirting? And why do have to always put my life’s work down like that. I’m sorry that I’m not a brilliant theoretical physicist playing four dimensional chess or whatever but..”

His mouth on hers threw Rose’s argument right out of her head.

“That’s why. Because you get so worked up defending yourself and your profession, and sometimes you get so heated that these two little blush points pop up on your cheeks, and fuck me, Rose it’s the sexiest thing I have ever seen.” Hux brushes his thumbs over the two spots he was talking about high up on her cheekbones, making Rose lose her breath.

“Hey guys, I’m sorry, but we are getting ready to close up.” The voice of reason was attached to one of the servers that had been working with their group during the party.

“Yes, of course, I’m so sorry we left such a mess for you guys.”

Hux stood up and grabbed his suit jacket, draping it over his arm as she gathered up her own things. The two walked out into the cold coastal night making her shiver a little bit. Hux moved behind her placing his jacket on her shoulders as they walked over to her car. 

“Big day tomorrow.” She said after opening her car door. Rose took the jacket off her shoulders and handed it back to him with a soft “Thank you.” As she drove back onto the Pacific Coast Highway back into the city, she could still feel his lips on hers. 

***

The preparation and ceremony were in the record books and now Rose could relax now that her best friend was officially Mrs. Rey Solo. Rose smiled to herself as she sat after dinner with a glass of champagne in one of the back tables. She had successfully avoided Hux throughout the day but now that her job was officially over, she didn’t have any other excuse. The Beverly Hilton ballroom they were in was not as large as the one that hosts the Golden Globes but it did have the easy access to the courtyard and pool deck which had been quartered off for the reception, a bar cart at the ready for when people were ready to move around. 

From her corner she could see Hux walk out into the LA night, his tie a loosened and hair a bit more disheveled than it had been during the ceremony. The memory of the way he looked at her during the vows had Rose moving towards him. 

“Mind if I join you?” She said getting another glass from the bartender. Hux whirled around at her voice with a wicked but nervous smile. 

“Be my guest.” They moved to one of the lounge seats in the back corner and sat quietly for a moment. 

“Did you mean what you said last night? About the flirting and arguing with me just to get a rise out of me?” Hux looked down like a precocious little boy then raised her eyes to meet Rose’s with a smile.

“Every single word.”

“Why now?”

He took a deep breath and a long drink from his whiskey. “Because the wedding is over and I wasn’t sure how much of us spending time together was about the wedding or if we would be able to find reasons to meet.” He took the last drink like a shot then took her glass, placing them both on the glass table. Hux took her hands in his. “And because I’m a right coward and didn’t know how to ask you out properly.” He looked from her eyes to her lips and then back up into her eyes. “And now that I’ve tasted your mouth, I don’t think I can ever go back to being just friends.”

“Are we friends?” Rose barely heard herself her question was so soft.

“I think we are. But, Rose, I want to be so much more than just friends.” Her response taken from her as he took her mouth in a deep kiss. Last night’s kiss was a peck on the cheek compared to this one as he moved his hands to hold her face, her own reaching to cup his. 

Suddenly everything fell into place, the way things had transpired form day one of meeting each other. Hux had tried to be in the same places as her, and once he had found out they worked at the same campus she had noticed she would see him around more then she had thought possible for the size of the university. When her car was in the shop it was Hux who suggested they carpool rather than her having to spend money on a rental or Uber to and from Pasadena. He did care for her. But his reserved demeaner and clipped way of speaking wasn’t always directed towards her. Mostly it was directed to people who would try to belittle her or say her work was sub-par to others. How many times had he offered her his jacket when she was cold? Offered to pick her up or drive her home from dinners with Ben and Rey?

Everything came suddenly into focus and Rose came to the overwhelming conclusion that she had deeper feeling for Hux as well. She may actually be in love with the idiot. Rose had no words that could possibly say what she was feeling. She was sure there were no words invented yet to quite verbalize what she was feeling. So rather than telling him how she felt, Rose leaned in again and kissed Hux deep and sure, telling him, not in words, but in her actions, what was going through her head and hear heart. 

“Rose, Hux, it’s time for the first dance.” Kaydel, one of the other bride’s maids causing Rose to pull away faster than intended but had to laugh when she heard Hux let out a rough groan of frustration.

“We’ll be right in, Kay.” As soon as Kay was out of sight, Rose stood and turned back to face Hux, holding her hand out for him. Hux stood to his full height and automatically placed his hands on her hips. Rose reached up and straightened his tie with a smile. “Tell you what, we go back in there, watch the first dance, say our goodbyes and then you and I go upstairs to my room and we don’t come up for breath until check out tomorrow morning.” Rose pulled on the tie she had been adjusting to bring him to her eye level kissing him so deep her own head spun.

“Rose, have I told you how much I love your mind?” Hux said while pressing his forehead into hers as she felt his fingers gripped tighter on the blue sequins of her dress. 

“No, but I would very much like to hear more about how smart you think I am and how you love hearing about mechanical engineering when I talk about it.” The chuckle Hux let out hit Rose deep in the furthest recesses of her soul. She took his hand and lead him back into the ballroom just in time for the Solo’s firs dance. She thought about everything that had been through to get to this point, a new chapter in their story. But not just for Rey and Ben, Rose and Hux were about to enter uncharted territory, entering shark infested waters without a cage. But when Rose looked into Hux’s eyes the danger she felt slips away. Something told her this ginger haired shark was defiantly worth the risk.


End file.
